Conversations on Vietnam Development
© James Morgan / WWF-US Tiếp tục đọc “Small business solutions to a big problem”
May 20, 2016
CSIS – In a world that has become increasingly interconnected and chaotic, with more displaced persons since World War II, and with an array of humanitarian disasters that has outstripped the international community’s budgets and capacity to respond, why should global food security remain an imperative development priority? Why has the United States invested so heavily, to the tune of $5.6 billion over the past five years, in agricultural development and nutrition to reduce extreme poverty?
Agriculture’s Economic Power
Agriculture is the primary source of employment and income for 70 percent of the world’s rural poor, and it contributes more than a third of gross domestic product (GDP) in many of the least developed countries. In light of evidence that GDP growth originating in agriculture can be four times more effective than growth in other sectors in raising incomes of the extremely poor, the economic leverage of agriculture for development is hard to dispute.
Aligning foreign assistance with country-led strategies for agricultural growth is the most effective approach to achieving results for vulnerable smallholder farmers, their families, and their communities. Government ownership is critical to sustaining development investments and to ensuring a sound policy environment for private-sector engagement. In order for agriculture to reach its potential to generate employment, raise smallholder incomes, and catalyze markets, both the will of country leadership to dedicate resources and the ability of local and international private companies to invest along the value chain are required. In some cases, this translates into tough policy reforms that take time to understand, to implement, and to enforce.
National Security Risks Tiếp tục đọc “The Food Security Solution”
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| Việt Nam needs a strategy on renewable energy development to ensure energy safety in the context of the country’s rapid economic growth and global climate change, said energy experts. – Photo nhandan.com.vn |
vietnamnews – HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam needs a strategy on renewable energy development to ensure energy safety in the context of the country’s rapid economic growth and global climate change, said energy experts.
The economic growth rate, high demand of energy consumption, and world hike in the price of fuel have all caused challenges to the country’s energy security.
In fact, Việt Nam has a great potential for developing clean energy sources but the current investment in the field has still been modest.
According to the Energy General Department, Viet Nam was endowed with excellent renewable energy resources throughout the country.
The country has about 2,000-2,500 sunny hours a year, equivalent to 43.9 million tonnes of oil, while the geographic orientation with approximately 3,400km of coastline, provides abundant wind energy at an estimated potential of 800-1,400kW per sq.m. per year.
Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam needs clean energy strategy”
Published on Monday, 25 April 2016
blogs.adb – In many common law jurisdictions, such as the UK and Australia, the concept of ‘legal personhood’—whereby businesses and corporations can be subject to not only similar rights, but also similar liabilities, as individuals—is an inherent element of any comprehensive criminal enforcement regime. In contrast, in many code-based jurisdictions the criminal liability of legal personhood is a relatively new concept. For example, France introduced corporate criminal liability in 1994, followed by Italy in 2001, and Spain in 2010. Tiếp tục đọc “Companies in Viet Nam to become liable for environmental crimes”
Despite many decades of global efforts directed at mass electrification, we have failed to deliver modern electricity services to approximately one-third of the people on Earth. 1.1 billion people continue to live without access to electricity. A further billion have unreliable access. According to the International Energy Agency’s most optimistic scenario for future energy access, the number of people worldwide without electricity in the year 2030 is projected to remain above 1 billion. In Sub-Saharan Africa the problem is projected to get worse, not better. The fact that population growth is outstripping electrification means that by 2030 the number of people without electricity will have risen by 10% (16% in rural areas) from 2009 levels. Clearly, our approach to opening up energy access has to change.
NARROW THE GAP 2015 FOR ENVIRONMENT
Vuong Thao Vy – LIN Grants Coordinator
This article was written exclusively for CVD
Narrow the Gap Community Fund (operated by LIN Center for Community Development) brings local resources together to support local nonprofit organizations that are tackling the most pressing problems in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and to make it easier and more rewarding for people to become more strategic with their giving. Through Narrow the Gap Community Fund, LIN collects donations from various sources and manages the selection and allocation of small grants, three times each year, to local NPOs that are addressing community needs. Since 2009, LIN has invited local not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) to apply for small grants (up to VND 600 million, the equivalent of USD $28,500) to support their activities. Applications are submitted to LIN staff for screening. Eligible applications are then presented to a review committee, which is comprised of LIN Board Members and rotating skilled volunteers. The review committee reads and ranks eligible applications and later comes together to meet, as a committee, with the applicants. Our grants also incorporate capacity building workshops and skilled volunteer matching, which aim to improve the quality of grant applications and help local NPOs overcome difficulties they face in communicating their ideas to stakeholders. Tiếp tục đọc “NARROW THE GAP 2015 FOR ENVIRONMENT”
KON TUM, Vietnam: Life has become harder for Ta Dinh Hao since the rains stopped earlier than usual last September.
The once teeming fish pond in front of his concrete house in Vietnam’s Central Highlands is now parched earth. His rice field has been dead for months and the cassava is struggling, but the 47-year-old farmer’s biggest worry is the dangerously low water level in his household well.
If the well dries up, he could afford to buy drinking water for another two or three months. “But after that, we won’t last,” he said with a sad smile.
Hao’s cassava is surviving but doing badly. (Photo: Tan Qiuyi)
UNFOLDING CRISIS
Tiếp tục đọc “Water crisis developing in drought-hit Vietnam: UN”
Since the end of 2015, unusually dry conditions and a shortage of rainfall have seriously affected Viet Nam. These conditions which are associated with El Niño, have led to severe drought in parts of the central, central highlands and southern regions of the country, including the Mekong Delta. Some water levels are at the lowest recorded in 90 years.
“In 2015, there was lower than average rainfall during the rainy season which ended two months earlier than in previous years. Water shortage has been compounded by saltwater intrusion. Salinity is four times higher than seasonal averages,” said Phan Duy Le, Vice Chairman of Quoi Dien commune in Thanh Phu district, Ben Tre province. “The consequences are very concerning. The drought and salty water have been threatening crops and agricultural production, and most importantly, access to drinking water for local people.”
Tiếp tục đọc “Viet Nam’s farmers suffer as El Niño contributes to widespread drought”
Rights of legal aid beneficiaries and environmental rights: Article 34 of Decree No. 7/CP dated 12/1/2007 on guidelines for implementing 2006 Law on legal aid stipulates: poor people, policy supported groups and other marginalized groups are entitled to legal aid services in eight fields, including environmental law
Dr Truong Thi Quoc Khanh – permenant Deputy of the National Assembly’s Commission on Science, Technology, and Environment – presented at the workshop
IUCN – Legal aid beneficiaries are entitled to, represention by counsel in order to lodge a complaint, to conduct negotiations or during legal proceedings. All of these activities shall be provided at no cost, and be followed-up, monitored by the state legal aid center, lawyers, or legal counselors.
The aim of providing legal aid services for the poor and marginalized groups is to protect their rights and interests, and to improve their legal knowledge. It also aims to avoid needless loss of business. Thus, legal aid plays an important role in raising people’s awareness on environment, and poverty eradication. Environment is closely linked with poverty, thus poverty can induce vulnerable communities (who are heavily dependant on local natural resources) to increase use of natural resources, causing overexplointation and the exhaustion of these resources. Poverty will lead to the lack of investment on environment. In additions, the growth at no costs strategy and population boom in Viet Nam will suplement to this, causing the serious environmental problems. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam: Problems in enforcing environmental law and ensuring environmental rights for legal aid beneficiaries”
In response to a request from Vietnam, China is discharging water from a dam in Yunnan.
thediplomat_ China has promised to discharge water from a dam along the Lancang River (better known as the Mekong) to help alleviate drought conditions in Southeast Asia. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang announced Tuesday in a regular press conference that China will release water from the Jinghong hydropower station in Yunnan province from March 15 to April 10, to provide water “for emergency use” by countries downstream.
“People living along the Lancang-Mekong River are nourished by the same river,” Lu noted. “It goes without saying that friends should help each other when help is needed.”
Yet the question of dams on the Mekong has not been as friendly as Lu makes it seem. As The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt noted last week, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia have been squabbling over dam construction and water usage, particularly as a severe drought threatens rice crop yields across the Indochina Peninsula.
China is also a part of that conversation – a major part, as the Mekong (called the Lancang in China) originates on the Tibetan plateau and flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Tibet, and Yunnan before ever reaching Southeast Asia. China opened its first large dam on the Lancang, the Manwan in Yunnan, in 1994, and added the Dachaoshan dam in 2003. In recent years, hydropower construction has revved into high gear, with China completing four additional dams since 2009 — and plans for another seven in the works. Tiếp tục đọc “Facing Mekong Drought, China to Release Water From Yunnan Dam”
Tiếp tục đọc “Loss of diversity near melting coastal glaciers”
CVD 